Lessons from Who-ville

As the news cycle continues to prognosticate various doom and gloom scenarios pertaining to the recent US election, I have become increasingly frustrated with the hand-wringing.

I predicted – though I hoped like anything that I was wrong – that all the attention (negative, positive and otherwise) being directed at one candidate was going to result in their win; and it did.

Universal spiritual laws teach us that power flows toward that which we give our attention to, and as a nation we gave it allin one direction. And so here we are, and now what do we do?

We can learn from our mistakes, to begin with and there are plenty for Progressives and others to learn. I’ll not be addressing the political learning outcomes; I’ll leave that to the talking heads.

I will, however, address what we can do – yes, that’s right: me and you.

If that sounded a little Suessical, it was meant to. In pondering the season, the election and the host of related issues I realized that the answer to the question: “Just what can we do?” was already answered back in 1956 by Theodor Geisel in his now-classic Christmas story, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas“.

Once the President-elect is sworn in and the Republican-controlled Congress is seated, many worry about the outcome of decisions with significant personal impacts:

The Affordable Care Act (how long will we keep the protections of no pre-existing conditions, kids covered until 26 and no lifetime caps?)

Medicare (will the GOP and the new president turn it into a voucher system?)

Social Security (will they privatize it?)

Nuclear weapons (are we descending back into a scarier Cold War era?)

What about the “little guy” who was promised so much?

Such a worry that Cabinet picks seem so far out of touch!

It’s easy to feel helpless, but I believe that the residents of Who-ville have some wisdom to share.

You may recall that the Grinch dressed up like Santa and stole all the presents, decorations, trees and food from each Who-ville house, leaving nothing but a crumb that was “…even too small for a mouse”.

He pushed his sled back up the mountain where he planned to dump all the Who-ville treasures.

“Three thousand feet up – up the side of Mt Crumpit! He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it! Poo-poo to the Who’s he was Grinch-ish-ly humming; they’re finding out now that no Christmas is coming!”

Expecting them to howl and cry; miserable about their situation, he put his hand to his ear to listen,…and what did he hear?

“He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming – it came! Somehow or other it came just the same.”

And so, I am suggesting, that like the Who’s in Who-ville who understood that no one could stop Christmas from coming; we need to remember that no one can stop us from being the country we love and cherish so dearly.

We ARE freedom, democracy, and opportunity for all. We are advocates for basic human dignity and rights for all. We all want peace and prosperity; opportunities to raise our families and live in a healthy environment, and to pass all of that onto the generations that follow. We are inclusive and accepting of people who look different that we do; act differently, love differently and worship differently – even those who don’t worship at all!

Instead of standing and staring at the “Grinch” in DC for the next 4 years, let’s do what the Who’s did – stand together, hand in hand, knowing who we are and celebrating the GOOD that is at the heart of this nation, and I believe in the heart of each of our citizens.

The wailing, gnashing of teeth and hand-wringing didn’t work so well in the election and it won’t suddenly transform into a tool for good. BUT, when we stand together for the values that politicians like to quote (but often forget soon after taking office), we all win – America wins and isn’t that all we ever wanted in the first place, regardless of the candidate we supported?

Let’s join hands and channel our inner-Who and show the whole world all the good we can do (no matter who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.)!